Slightly fewer Lancaster County residents filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, new data shows, but the figure remained inflated by already idled countians whoâve exhausted their regular benefits now seeking to renew their eligibility.
While the number of new claims dipped 4.5% to 639 claims, the figure exceeded 600 for the sixth consecutive week, a trend that s erased a months-long steady decline to the 200s â a level on the brink of pre-pandemic norms here.
The surge into the 600s occurred once the one-year anniversary of the pandemic arrived in mid-March, suggesting the upturn is due in part to fresh filings from countians whoâve run through their year-long first round of benefits, a Lancaster County Workforce Development Board official said.
Lancaster Countians filed 11.1% more new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the most since mid-December, new data from the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board shows.
The rise to 669 new claims suggests that the economic indicator continues to be elevated by fresh filings from countians whoâve exhausted their first round of benefits â a trend that has lifted the volume of new filings above 500 for six straight weeks.
As the pandemicâs impact weakened and businesses regained their strength, new claims had receded into the 200s in late February and early March, approaching their pre-pandemic norm, until getting pumped back up by the claims-process timetable.
New claims for unemployment benefits filed by Lancaster Countians remained elevated last week by fresh filings from people who already were unemployed but have exhausted their first round of benefits, new data shows.
Although new claims dropped slightly by 4.0% to 602 claims they exceeded 500 for the fifth straight week, according to figures released by the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board on Thursday.
New claims had dwindled into the 200s in late February and early March, until getting inflated anew by the timetable undergirding the claims process.
Hundreds of people who were laid off at the start of the pandemic, which began in March 2020, now are seeing their initial year of benefits end. So theyâre filing new claims, hoping to get another year of regular unemployment compensation or extended benefits, a board official explained.
New claims for unemployment benefits filed by Lancaster Countians stayed inflated last week due to fresh filings by already unemployed people whoâve exhausted their first round of benefits, new data shows.
New claims increased by 1.8% to 627 claims, the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board reported Thursday. It was the fourth consecutive week theyâve been inflated to roughly double the level of early March.
Driving the trend is the calendar hundreds of people who were laid off when the pandemic began in March 2020 now are seeing their year of benefits ending and are filing new claims, according to the board.
New claims for unemployment benefits filed by Lancaster Countians dropped 7.5% last week but remained elevated by fresh filings from already unemployed people whoâve exhausted their first round of benefits, new data shows.
The drop to 616 new claims from 666 new claims the prior week ended a string of three consecutive weekly increases, according to figures released Thursday by the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board.
But despite the decline, the number of new claims is roughly double the volume seen a month earlier.
The reason, according to the board, is that hundreds of people who were laid off when the pandemic began in March 2020 and now are seeing their year of benefits ending are filing new claims.